I wonder if this is an US/the rest thing or maybe a meat eater / vegetarian thing. For exact scientific evaluation, please tell in which groups you fit in when commenting.
When the topic food is brought up here or there is always this guy saying “omg you can’t leave your food for 30 minutes on the counter because bacteria you know” (exaggerated) and I don’t get where that sentiment comes from. Many people agree and say you will get food poisoning from that.
First of all, let me tell you I am not an idiot (at least I hope so) and I know how microbiology works - bacteria is everywhere. I don’t doubt your food on the counter will get populated by bacteria, probably more than it would be in the fridge. The question is, is this bad for you?
Now, where I live (central Europe) people are not so fast with that and I wonder why this is. We have a temperate climate which could play a role, so a large portion of the year the temperature is pretty moderate, compared to let’s say south US. But apart from that I don’t really know.
I am a vegetarian, mostly vegan. I am pretty sure it’s not a good idea to leave animal parts out of the fridge, as they are already populated with bad bacteria when you buy them. But for vegetables? Pasta, soup, lasagna? To be honest, I have no shame to leave that stuff on the counter the whole day and even take a spoon from time to time without reheating. Over night I put it of course in the fridge, and in summer when we have 35°C it’s also a different thing. But in general I don’t really care. I know I cannot extrapolate on humanity, only because ai never felt bad after doing this. But honestly, am I an idiot? Or are you just a bit sensitive? Do you assume everybody eats meats?
Really interested in your ideas. Don’t forget to tell the region you are coming from and your diet preferences.
Thank you so much my respected lemmings and pie people
Thanks for your US input, really appreciate it. But think about it, most of the people that already commented live outside the US. It seems your guidelines are pretty heavy, also another US american commented the guidelines are so strict because they need to apply to the whole vast country.
Are we all really ignorant, or is it possible there is also a cultural difference in play?
The WHO’s manual on food safety here.
I’ve been out of the loop on this for a while, however— yes, food safety practices differ culturally, but actual regulations are fairly similar. The WTO has recommendations upon which standards for imported food are created, resulting in a lot of uniformity in international food safety guidelines. But! There can be equitablility and equivalence allowances for different practices that achieve the same result. FDA conducts inspections on foreign food manufacturing that allow for these differences.
More countries have implemented HACCP in food industries based on WHO guidelines.
Local differences can still result in products considered safe in one region and not suitable for commercial sale in another. For instance in Canada all commercial eggs have to be refrigerated, in part, because we wash our eggs, which removes the protective cuticle so they’re more prone to becoming contaminated. In other countries it’s against regulation to wash commercial eggs and they can be stored at room temperature. But! It’s a food safety risk to leave a refrigerated egg at room temperature for too long because condensation forms on the shell, creating a favorable environment for bacteria.
Some countries don’t allow certain preservatives, additives or chemicals. Borax and lye are used in traditional recipes and legal in some countries, while being against regulations in others.
However, heavy regulations aren’t just based on risk to the weakest consumer, but on variance in circumstance. Not everyone who handles food is a perfect professional, equipment breaks down, cold trucks can overheat, and plenty of other shit can go wrong in the supply chain. Your food might already be heavily contaminated by the time it reaches you and that can’t always be seen or smelled.
Adhering as well as you can to your local food prep guidelines can be overkill 99/100 times, but that 1/100 can prevent slight discomfort/illness/death. It’s about how much risk you want to take on.
Bacteria doesn’t care about culture. The guidelines are pretty simple: bacteria generally grows on food within a temp range.
It’s not like parts of US has more food-affecting bacteria than others.
Other nonsense in this thread: “if it smells ok it’s ok to eat” some bacteria can’t be detected by scent.
Rice, a common food outside of the US, has a particularly bad bacteria that can survive being cooked and should not be left out or even reheated more than once for example.
My Filipino wife leaves rice in the cooker overnight almost every day, reheats it the next. Please explain to her that she died several decades ago from this practice.
Well, bacteria actually care a lot about culture if you allow for this pun.
Like I said, the other commenters from the US say the US guidelines are extra strict so infection will be nearly impossible. This post is a pretty small sample, but from what I gather there is indeed a cultural difference. Not in the biology itself, but in what guidelines exist and how they are interpreted. We are of course talking about a private setting at home in this thread, not about restaurants or industrial kitchens.
Honestly, I feel your tone is a bit rude. Make your points, share tour thoughts, argue. But don’t act like everybody commenting here is stupid.
Find any sources from your country then?